Cameron and his friend John bought a used circus carousel for $\$ 29,600$, including sales tax. If the sales tax rate is $5 \%$, then what was the cost of the carousel before the tax?

Step 1 ：The problem is asking for the original price of the carousel before the tax was added. We know that the final price (including tax) is $29,600 and the tax rate is 5%. We can represent the situation with the equation: Original Price + 5% of Original Price = Final Price.

Step 2 ：We can solve this equation for the Original Price. Let's denote the original price as \(x\). So, the equation becomes \(x + 0.05x = 29600\).

Step 3 ：Solving this equation gives us the original price of the carousel before the tax was added.

Step 4 ：Final Answer: The cost of the carousel before the tax was approximately \(\boxed{28190.48}\).